postage increment

UPDATED: 2/19/2005 01:55:00 AM

according to aliran, pos malaysia is not right to hike up the postal rates because it is hoarding huge cash reserves.
Pos Malaysia hikes rates despite hoarding huge cash reserves

“This privatised firm actually has an astounding three-quarters of a billion ringgit stashed away in cash or near-cash assets. In addition, Pos Malaysia is believed to earn some RM90 million ringgit annually in commissions for acting as a collection agent for bill payments on behalf of various firms. Not surprisingly, Pos Malaysia posted a net profit of RM 61million for the nine months ended September 2004 – an increase of more than 40 per cent from the corresponding period in the previous year. It is projected to earn a net profit of close to RM100 million this year based on existing postal rates.”

oh ya, i forgot about pos malaysia’s other service – collection agent for bill payments, and oh yes, issuing of motor license too. they provides so much service that i’m not surprise they earn so much in commission.

earlier i mentioned that i was glad of the increase for pamphlets and so on because of the unsolicited promo/advert pamphlets i received but it seems that subscription of magazine sent to the subscriber also comes under this ‘printed matter’ category, which had been increased. i subscribed to aliran and as aliran stated in that article, presently the postal charge for sending out the magazines is 35c but come 1 march when the new postal rates increase, they’ll have to pay 50c – an increase of 43%… and in the long run, inevitably, they have to increase the subscription rate… which affects me. so, indeed, this price hike of pos malaysia will eventually pass on to the consumer, you and i.

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i was thinking… this increase in postage for registered letter and statements from banks… now, will the bank pass the increased charges to us, their clients by imposing some estra ‘bank charges’ on us. hey who knows, they could be like our local kopi tiam people – “sugar increased, so we must increased our drinks too”. they might think since postage now cost a lot, let’s charge our client for the postage!

one thing i’m glad to note is the increase of commercial samples, addressed catalogues and pamphlets because i hate receiving them, esp. those unsolicited ones. they are like spams in the mailbox (real world! not on the WWW).